INSIGHT: Bentley doubles up and shines at Sonoma

Early last weekend, a Dyson Racing Bentley Continental GT3 rumbled out of its garage and into the bright California sunshine, ready to take its first look at the undulating Sonoma Raceway.

A few moments later, a near-identical car did exactly the same thing – and a huge milestone in Dyson's Bentley program was achieved.

Sonoma marked Dyson's first Pirelli World Challenge event as a two-Bentley team, with British driver Guy Smith suiting up alongside Butch Leitzinger. It was Smith's first outing in the PWC...but that's where any unfamiliarity ends. Smith is a long-time Bentley collaborator who was central in developing the car for racing in the Blancpain Endurance Series in Europe, and he has a long history with both Dyson Racing and Leitzinger. Indeed, the two drivers were part of the Bentley Speed 8 line-up at Le Mans in the early 2000s.

"Working with Butch and being with Dyson and Bentley feels a bit like coming home," says Smith (LEFT). "With the Bentley guys, I'm very much part of the family there, and I've worked with Dyson for seven or eight years. So it is a great environment; the team is doing a really good job, and in working with an OEM [manufacturer], that's a big step up. So it seems to be working really well."

Having two cars on track instead of one has an obvious competition benefit – it's an extra chance to win. But the real advantage comes from having twice the amount of feedback – electronic, mechanical and human – to work with. The team can experiment with different setups in the same session to get a handle on what works best.

"We found some good gains, mainly as a result of being able to double the amount of work we were doing with engineering now that we are running two cars," says Dyson technical director Peter Weston. "The two cars are not identical, but we've learned a lot about the two setups. Guy has told us a lot about how he runs the car in Europe, and when we put that alongside what we're learning from Butch, we're making some good progress."